Kenneth Brander

Kenneth Brander was born in 1962

Kenneth Brander was born on April 18, 1962. He grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and in Queens, New York.

He graduated from Yeshiva College in 1984 and was ordained as a rabbi at RIETS in 1986. As a student he assisted Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. He later received a special ordination in medical ethics and Jewish law, and earned a PhD from Florida Atlantic University.

He served at Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York from 1986 to 1991. From 1991 to 2005 he was senior rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue, where the community grew from 60 to 600 families. During those years he founded a Jewish high school in the area.

From 2005 to 2018 he was a vice president at Yeshiva University and the first dean of its Center for the Jewish Future. In 2018 he became President and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone, succeeding Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.

He moved to Israel with his family in 2018 and lives in Jerusalem. He and his wife have 5 children.